Texas Gunman Threatened To Kill Air Force Superiors: Report

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX — Devin Patrick Kelley, the gunman who attacked worshippers at a Texas church Sunday, was committed to a mental health facility in New Mexico in 2012 after he made death threats against superior officers at Holloman Air Force Base, according to a report obtained by a Houston television station. The threats came after he was caught trying to sneak firearms onto the base, the report said.

At some point, Kelley, who was 21 at the time, escaped the mental health facility in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. When police officers in El Paso, Texas, picked him up at a bus terminal, he was preparing to carry out his threats against his Air Force superiors, according to the report obtained by KPRC-TV in Houston. The mental health facility's missing persons report said Kelley "was a danger to himself and others," the television station said.

Kelley, 26, opened fire on worshippers at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs about 11:20 a.m. Sunday, killing 26 and injuring 20 more as he went through the church aisle by aisle, shooting crying babies at point-blank range, according to a couple who survived the massacre. The 26 people who were killed included the unborn baby of Crystal Holcombe, who was eight months pregnant. With the inclusion of the unborn baby, nine members of the extended Holcombe family died in the attack. Eight of the shooting victims remained hospitalized Tuesday, many of them with multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators haven't disclosed a motive, but have said the slaughter stemmed from an ongoing dispute with his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended the church. She wasn't in church, but Kelley's wife's grandmother was among those killed.

The television station said a report of Kelley's mental health facility escape and threat against his Air Force superiors was submitted to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database.

The Air Force, which came under scrutiny amid reports that military officials did not notify the FBI that Kelley had been court-martialed and convicted in the military court of domestic violence for an assault on his wife at and child in 2012, said Tuesday it could not comment on the report, due to privacy laws.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek cited privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which she said apply even though Kelley died in Sunday's violence in Texas, The Associated Press reported.

Reporting the 2012 conviction would have prevented Kelley from buying the gun used in Sunday's shooting, authorities said Monday.

The disclosure of the criminal history is required under Pentagon rules. Kelley bought an AR-15 military-style rifle from a sporting goods store in San Antonio in April 2016, according to reports.

When Kelley filled out the background check paperwork at the store, he checked the box indicating he had no disqualifying criminal history, officials said. Trump administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the information to the Associated Press. Convicted in a 2012 Air Force court martial for assaulting his ex-wife and child, Kelley was given a bad conduct discharge in 2014.

Databases used to check the criminal history of those who buy weapons included no information about Kelley's criminal background, officials said Monday night.

On Tuesday, authorities in Kelley's hometown of New Braunfels, Texas, were reviewing investigative records of a sexual assault allegation against him four years ago. Records released by the Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds told The Associated Press Tuesday that it appears sheriff's deputies investigated the case for three months after being called to Kelley's home, but stopped investigating after they believed Kelley had left Texas and moved to Colorado. The local district attorney says the case was never presented to her.

Also Tuesday, investigators with the FBI said they had been unable to crack the encryption on the gunman's cellphone, but that it had been shipped to the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Investigators have said getting information from the phone is critical to learning more about the killer's motivations.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that Kelley was denied a permit to carry a firearm. It was unclear at that time how Kelley obtained the gun after he was initially denied a permit under Texas law. Abbott said both state and federal law prohibit those convicted of domestic violence from owning or buying a gun.

The massacre reignited debate over gun control. Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, where a terrorist killed eight people in New York City on Halloween, said in a statement that New Yorkers are joining Texans and all Americans "in mourning this senseless tragedy."

“These mass shootings have become appallingly and unforgivably common in our society, but we must not become numb to tragedy,” Cuomo said in the statement. “We cannot accept mass shootings as part of who we are — this can and must stop.”

“In the memories of those we lost today in Texas, and last month in Las Vegas, and last year in Orlando, and all across this nation, we must come together and say: enough is enough.”

Under Pentagon rules, information about convictions of military personnel in crimes like assault are supposed to be submitted to the FBI's Criminal Justice Investigation Services Division for inclusion in the National Criminal Information Center database, but the Pentagon has known for at least two decades about failures to give military criminal history information to the FBI, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Air Force said in a written statement that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein have ordered a review of the Kelley case by the Air Force Office of the Inspector General.

"The service will also conduct a comprehensive review of Air Force databases to ensure records in other cases have been reported correctly," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. "The Air Force has also requested that the Department of Defense Inspector General review records and procedures across the Department of Defense."

Speaking with reporters Monday from Japan, President Donald Trump said the shooting was a mental health problem, not a gun problem. "We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, but this isn't a gun situation," said Trump, who described the gunman as "deranged" and had a "mental health problem at the highest level."

Abbott said earlier in the day that investigators are “aggressively looking into” a possible connection between Kelley and the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, located about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio. He added that he doesn't think it was "just a random act of violence." The gunman first fired from outside the church before firing multiple rounds inside from a semi-automatic weapon, investigators said.

“It’s very important that law enforcement have the ability … to tie the loose ends of this investigation up,” Abbott said. He called Kelley “a very deranged individual” who was exhibiting "some mental health challenges" before he was dismissed from the Air Force.

Authorities said Monday that Kelley had sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law. Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin said Monday that the mass shooting stemmed from a domestic situation and was not racially or religiously motivated, the Associated Press reported.

Kelley's grandmother-in-law, Lula White, died in the massacre Sunday, multiple friends told CNN. White was the grandmother of Kelley's wife and volunteered frequently at the church, according to friends and her Facebook profile.

Also Monday a former girlfriend of Kelley's, Katy Landry, told NBC News he was "very sick in the head."

"Years after dating me, he would try to bribe me to hang out with him," Landry told NBC News in a Facebook message. "He ended up assaulting me. He would stalk me by repeatedly calling me — even prank calling me, saying really weird stuff.

"That was another thing about him — he was very sick in the head...He would tell me very sick strange things," she said, but provided no details.

Another former girlfriend, Brittany Adcock, 22, told NBC she had briefly dated Kelley when she was 13 and he was 18 — in retrospect, she said, a signal there was "something off" about him. He harassed her after their breakup, she said, and was able to get her phone number even after she changed it.

"One time he told me I should move in with him and his wife and that he would take care of me as long as I walked around topless," Adcock said. "Not long after, his wife messaged me and asked why I'm talking to her husband, and I told her what he was saying and sent her screenshots and she then apologized and then I was blocked from speaking to her."

The gunman, dressed in all black and wearing tactical gear, was seen at a gas station across from the church at about 11:20 a.m. Sunday before he crossed the street and started shooting, officials said.

Tackitt said that he believes Kelley went around the outside of the church firing rounds before entering and shooting at parishioners. The gunman dropped his Ruger AR rifle in the church, but pulled out a pistol when confronted by an armed bystander, identified as Stephen Willeford, as he exited the building. The two men exchanged gunfire before Kelley left in a nearby vehicle.

Willeford waved down a man passing by and the two began pursuing the gunman, Tackitt said in an interview with CBS. He said they may have engaged in a firefight along the way before the gunman’s vehicle crashed into a fence at the Guadeloupe County line. He was found dead inside the vehicle, officials said. Officials said numerous weapons were found inside the gunman's vehicle and he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Tackitt called the bystander a “hero” but declined to give his name.

During their gun battle, Willeford aimed for the gunman's side because he noticed Kelley's body armor did not protect the side of his body, said Ken Leonard, who is the Willeford's cousin, CNN reported.

Authorities say that evidence at the scene leads them to believe that Kelley died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he crashed the car, according to the Associated Press. They say Kelley also used his cellphone to tell his father that he had been shot and didn't think he would survive.

On NBC's "Today" show, Abbott said Kelley, who lived in nearby New Braunfels, Texas, had been denied a firearms carry permit. Kelley had posted a photo of an assault weapon on a now-deleted Facebook page. According to reports, the caption read: "She's a bad bitch." CNN reported Kelley bought a Ruger-AR556 rifle in April 2016 from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, but that he had indicated on required background forms that he had no criminal record that would disqualify him from purchasing the gun, according to the report.

Fred Milanowski, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Houston, said during a news conference Monday that officers recovered a Ruger AR-556 rifle at the church, the Associated Press reported.

Milanowski said two additional handguns were recovered from the vehicle driven by Kelley — a Glock 9mm and a Ruger .22-caliber. Milanowski says all three weapons were purchased by the suspect.

Investigators have reviewed video footage from inside the church, Martin said.

Kelley grew up in his parents’ nearly $1 million home in New Braunfels, and was married in 2014, The New York Times reported. He had been married at least once before and was sued for divorce in 2012 in New Mexico, the same year he was court-martialed.

Twenty-four of those killed or injured were children, and five people remained hospitalized Monday — three children and two adults, and their conditions ranged from serious to critical, Martha Rendon, an official with University Health System in San Antonio told The Associated Press.

Sutherland Springs is a tiny town of just 362, and 4 percent of its population was killed, Tackitt told CNN. Among the victims were a visiting pastor, the 14-year-old daughter of the church pastor, a pregnant woman, and eight members of the same family, CNN reported.

"He just walked down the center aisle, turned around and my understanding was shooting on his way back out," Tackitt said, describing the scene as "terrible."

"It's unbelievable to see children, men and women, laying there. Defenseless people," he said.

At a Sunday evening news conference, Tackitt said the close-knit community was stunned by the shooting, the deadliest shooting in a place of worship in U.S. history and the deadliest shooting in Texas history.

"We all in here know what happened today and it's something we all say does not happen in small communities but we found out today that it does," Tackitt said.

Residents of Sutherland Spring "rely on God more than anything else" and came together after the tragedy at a candlelight vigil Sunday night, Abbott said in the ABC News interview.

Trump ordered U.S. flags at public buildings and grounds and military posts to be flown at half-staff through sunset Thursday. He said he will continue monitoring the investigation during his 11-day tour of Asia.

"Our hearts are broken but in dark times — and these are dark times — such as these, Americans do what they do best," the president said from Japan.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday that mass shootings can be prevented if more people carry concealed guns.

“If somebody's willing to kill someone, they're also going to be willing to violate a gun law. In Texas at least we have the opportunity to have concealed carry,” he said on Fox News. “And so if it's a place where somebody has the ability to carry, there's always the opportunity that gunman will be taken out before he has the opportunity to kill very many.”

Abbott has also ordered flags at half-staff.

"This will be a long-suffering mourning for those in pain," Abbott said at the Sunday press conference. "We ask for God's comfort, for God's guidance and for God's healing for all those who are suffering."

Counselors are on hand at area schools to help children cope with the tragedy. Sutherland Springs doesn't have its own school district, but some attend Floresville Independent School District, where district spokesman Kim Cathey wrote: "Our hearts are breaking for the families of the deceased and injured."

It wasn't immediately clear if any of the children who were killed or injured attended the school.

Similar messages of prayers and support were offered by the Stockdale and La Vernia independent school districts.

Paxton issued a statement saying his office stands ready to assist local law enforcement as needed. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn offered their condolences for the shooting victims.

Watch: Sutherland Springs, Texas A Community In Mourning

See Also:

• Texas Church Shooting Victims: Portraits Emerge Of 26 Who Died
• FBI Unable To Crack Encryption On Texas Mass Killer's Phone
• Devin P. Kelley, Texas Church Massacre Suspect: 5 Facts
• Texas Mass Shooting Victims: How You Can Help
• Misinformation Abounds In Wake Of Texas Mass Shooting
• Texas Resident Grabbed His Rifle, Stopped Church Shooting Suspect

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mourners participate in a candlelight vigil held for the victims of a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)